The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-02-02

drawn from well-known sources.
These pioneers of Russian civiliza-
ton form the living rampant of Russia |
for the five or six thousand miles which
cover the entire Asiatic frontier from
the Sea of Okhotsk in Eastern Siberia
to the river DON and the Caucasus.
They are first mentioned in the Rus
sian chronicles of 1444 as living around
that part of the Dneiper where the city
of Kiev now stands. They had begun
to assemble there as early as the tenth
century, escaping tyranny of all kinds,
and they chose the Dneiper territory as
refuge because they could easily de-
fend themselves there among the inn
passable marshes and numerous ISL
ands These refugees from oppression
increased very fast. and, although they
numbered many different classes and
races of people-victims of religious
persecution, fugitives from the cruelty
of lords and masters, deserters, crimi-
mails and outlaws-they soon united
into more or less homogeneous mass,
essentially Russian in character, for
the larger part of them were Rus
slams, but utterly opposed in politi
cal creed to the existing govern
ment. They formed, as it were, re-
public within monarchy, a state with
in state, always calling themselves
Russians, although maintaining their
independence of Russian rule. AS they
grew to be formidable in numbers they
spread rapidly over the country, and at
last established themselves as kind of
military republic in Southern Russia,
and declared themselves defenders
against savage tribes and Turks. Their
usefulness to Russia as defenders of the
| frontier was by no means imaginary.
The cities of Southern Russia were con-
tinually threatened by the incursions
| of Asiatic barbarians, and frequently
sought the aid of the Cossacks to pro-
tect them against these attacks. Great
numbers of young men from thes cities,
irresistably attracted by the wild. free
life of the borders, joined the body of
Cossacks, which was then, as it is now,
a close corporation.
Complaints of their lawlessness were
showered upon the Gar Alexis, and in
1866 he persuaded some of them to come
to Moscow, and then sent them against
Poland and Riga-the first service ever
performed by Cossacks in the Russian
army. Nearly century later various
advanced posts were established by the
government in the country occupied by
these Yak Cossacks. They, consider
ing this to be deliberate infringement
on their rights, stirred up powerful
rebellion, and for about thirty years
successfully opposed the Russian arms,
pillaging the country of the Volga, and
even threatening Moscow. This final
struggle for Cossack independence
ended in the year of the declaration of
American independence. The Russians
effectuaIly suppressed the rebel
lion, captured and executed the
leader, Pugatcheff, and changed
the name of the river and
province from Yak to Ural, the latter
punishment, simple as it may seem,
having a certain refinement of cruelty
in the appreciation of the semi-O Oriental
Cossacks. Since this famous revolt
ended, the Cossacks have been peaceful
subjects of the Gar, always reseving
certain traditional rights and privileges
for themselves, which make them still
in large degree Independent of Rus
sian rule. 1t has never been possible
to prevent their foraging across the
frontier, any more than on our own
borders have we hitherto found it in
our power to put an end to the promis-
cuous acts of barbarity which have
always postponed perfect peace in
the United States to that time when the
determination of the Indians shall have
removed the temptations which from.
tiersmen are unable to withstand.
In the course of the centuries of com
parative freedom which the Cossacks
have enjoyed they have not preserved
the purity .of their race, although they
are much more Russian than any thing
else. 1t has been common custom
ii for the young men stationed in remote
posts to marry the Asiatic girls whom
they have captured as prisoners of wal
or bartered for in the Oriental manner
This practice of promiscuous marriage
has, of course, been no inconsiderablt
element in the preservation of theil
, practical isolation from the rest of Rus
: STA. Then, too, besides the mixture o
blood, no trifling proportion of then
has been admitted to the body from thu
| Asiatic tribes, chiefly from the Circas
/ SLAMS, who have, as q condition o
> their admission, adopted the Gus
toms of the Cossacks, and hav'
7 sworn allegiance to the Gar. Possess
: ing, then, characteristics of both Sla'
and Asiatic, the great body of Cossack
| stands. as it were, on neutral grount
t between European and Asiatic civiliza
7 ton. Their allegiance to the Russial
| government does not place them in tn
position of the ordinary Russian citi
{ zen. Instead of taxes and contribu
/ tons, they pay the government in mill
: tary service, giving certain amour
: of men, enlisted for certain length o
: service, in payment for the lands Oh
t which they squat along the rivers. Thei
), chief officers are appointed by the gov